Archive News 2010   archives :    2009 2008 2007 2006

The lily flowers were into double figures this year. Here's a quick snapshot of some. I need to get on top of the news pages again. I seem to have been neglecting it a bit.

A next door neighbour popped round last week to tell me that frogs had spawned in his front yard in the heavy rain we were having. They did this a couple of years ago, presumably because they were having difficulty getting to the pnod (his yard is also below street level, with high walls). The spawn was put in the pnod and immediately sank, as there was no surface weed to support it. There are now some very small tadpoles in the pnod, so I must assume that either these eggs were fertile, or there was already other spawn in the pnod somewhere. Either way, I'm glad that there are at least some tadpoles this year. This was on 27th March, so a good 4-5 weeks later than last year, which shows what a much harsher winter it's been.

Just a short update. Although I have seen frogs in the pnod, they have not yet spawned this year. They're late compared to last year and the year before, although this may be because we have had a much colder, longer winter this year. I'm hoping that the major overhaul of last summer has not put the frogs off. At least a couple of the small fish have survived the winter so far, so it will be interesting to see how things turn out this year.

Winter comes to the pnod. This is the first time snow has settled on it. Last year was the first time the pnod properly iced over.

Video, for those who like that kind of thing.

The 2009 news page has been archived. Please see the link at the top of this column. I didn't add much to it after the great disaster of the summer. The small fish that I didn't particularly want in the first place were left in the pnod. At least two had changed colour to a pale yellow by autumn. The lily failed to flower after all the water changes, even though it had at least 7 flower buds at the time. I just hope 2010 is a better year for the pnod.